CHASE BEGINS TODAY FOR THE RP JUNIOR OF POOL

THE 3rd Philippine Juniors Pool Championship fires off, today with the cream of the country’s young cue artists battling it out for the top honors at the Star Billiards Center No.46 Joy St., Grace Village in Quezon City.

Jonas Magpantay, who is fresh from winning the 1st PAGCOR-Kabayan Bilyar Aralan 9-Ball Challenge heads the cast in the three-day (July 10 to 12) event, organized by the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) led by president Sebastian “Baste” Chua and chairman Florentino “Yen” Makabenta.

The 15-year-old Bansud, Oriental Mindoro native Magpantay, a freshman pupil of Ponciano Bernardo High School in Cubao is the 2009 Philippine Pool Championships youngest qualifier.

He also settled a quarter-finals finish during the 2008 Reno World Junior of Pool Championships (for boys) in Reno, Nevada.

Cebuano billiards patron/ businessman Paul “Magi” Magadan of MPC Alluminum and Glass Trading sent his three young warriors in the likes of Felix “Bulati” Carvajal, who topped the 2009 Cebu 9-Ball tournament, Diondel Cortez “Monkey” Raga and Keith Castro Manayon to carry the good fight for the Cebuano cue artists.

The event is open to all male players 19 years old and below. No entry fee is required. All interested participants, however, must submit a valid birth certificate to satisfy the age requirement.

Besides the highly coveted title of Philippine Junior Champion, the tournament this year offers an attractive prize fund of P140,000. The champion will receive P50,000 and the right to represent the country in the World Junior Pool Championship slated in December.

The runner-up in the competition will get P25,000. Prizes will be given up to eighth place.

Previous winners of the Philippine Junior Pool Championship were Jerico Banares, 2008 champion who went on to place second in the world junior championship in Reno Nevada, and Mark Aristotle Mendoza, 2007 champion who represented the country in the 2007 championship in Germany.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.